Reading of electric power, gas, and water meters is presently done via visual or electronic means by human meter readers who have to either gain access to the dwellings or read from the outside of the apartments, houses, shops, etc.
Automatic reading and transmission of meter readings to centralized billing centers eliminates the need for human meter readers. Elimination of the need for dispatching utility employees to periodically read the meters results in substantial reduction in operating costs.
There are various types of meters on the market that provide automatic electronic reading capability. However, replacement of existing meters with entirely new and different meters presents enormous cost problems. The existing meters must be removed from service and scrapped. The new meters must be purchased and installed at a tremendous cost. The combined cost of the existing meters that must be scrapped and the new meters that must be installed is frequently prohibitive.
The Hoss U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,362 teaches an apparatus for beaming a light onto a meter rotor whose metallic surface normally reflects light. A darkened section on the face of the meter rotor absorbs light so that each rotation of the meter rotor produces an interval where no light is reflected. The meter rotations are monitored at a remote location through the use of fiber optic cables.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,406 issued to Holeman discloses an improved stationary optical system for remote meter readers having a number of rotating aperture discs and a rotating scanning disc. The Holeman invention includes a light source, collimating optics, collecting optics, and a detector.
The Green U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,587 introduces a device for monitoring utility usage. The Green invention senses the rotation of a meter disk via infrared light signals and transmits data to a customer interface unit having an LCD display.